Air miles for beginners

[StorybookCircus]

Hi all,

I'm looking at getting a credit card just to try and build up air miles to fly to Florida. This might be a bit of a lofty goal as my partner and I aren't really big spenders and we're both complete novices when it comes to air miles (and credit cards!)
The information I've come across online is pretty baffling. Can anyone who uses air miles please give me an example of what they've used them for? i.e.

I spent (£) on my credit card in (X months/years) and earned (X) miles.
I was able to get two flights to (country) with (airline).
We booked (X) months in advance.
We flew (direct/indirect) (economy/premium/business).
And we had to pay (£) in taxes etc.

I can't seem to find an up-to-date, straightforward example anywhere! Many thanks in advance Dibbers xxxx

[JLH]

I collect them but are no expert , you may be better asking in the general chat or Florida planning to get more replies .

[neilhd]

I started collecting Avios in September last year. I recently was able to make a booking for my wife and I for Las Vegas next year, in Club World and First class.

The quickest way to build up points is via credit card signup bonuses - specifically one of a couple of Amex cards.

The Amex Gold Preferred Rewards card gives a signup bonus of 20,000 airmiles for spending £2000 in the first 90 days. This increases to 22,000 if you are referred for the card (I would be happy to refer you of course!). The general idea is once you hit that target you refer your other half for the same card (then they earn a 22,000 signup bonus too, and you earn a 9,000 referral bonus). You then cancel the card and wait 6 months, and then apply for another one (with your OH referring you). Rinse/repeat.

We did that, then moved onto the British Airways Premium Plus Amex. This card carries a £195 annual fee but gives a 26,000 signup bonus (if referred, 25000 if not) for spending £3000 in the first 90 days. More importantly, if you spend £10,000 in a year, you get a 2-4-1 voucher which allows you to book 2 tickets for the price of 1 set of Avios. This makes it really quite valuable and is what I used to book my tickets. After triggering my voucher I downgraded my card to the free version (which isn't quite as good, but it didn't matter then) and got a pro-rata refund of the fee. I also referred my wife for the card so now we're working towards another voucher.

We spend everything we can on the Amex to get the points, and anything we buy online we go via the Avios or BA Exec Club shopping portals to get more Avios, etc.

HeadForPoints is an excellent website with a good mailing list that gives loads of tips and info on collecting extra points.

[hornetgirl]

This was what we did in May of this year. Our preferred card is the BA Amex to get the 241 voucher. The card has an annual fee of £195 and requires a spend of £10,000 within a year to trigger the voucher. It's easier to achieve than you might think if you put all possible spending on the card (and clear it in full every month - don't be running up credit card debt just to collect avios!)
We also take turns to hold and churn an Amex gold card. It's free if you do this and every time you refer someone you get bonus points. Next month my husband will refer me, then cancel his card. In six months time I'll refer him for a new one and so on.

I spent £10,000 on my credit card in one year and earned 150,000 miles (not just from credit card spend)
I was able to get two flights to Japan with British Airways
We booked 8? months in advance.
We flew direct, first class out, club class back
And we had to pay just over £1,000 (this was the total for two people) in taxes etc.

We are just starting a new year of spend. The 241 voucher for Japan was from 2015/16 spend (voucher is valid for two years). The voucher for 2016/17 has been used for club class flights for our upcoming trip to Orlando in November.

[StorybookCircus]

Wow, thanks for the replies everyone! I didn't think it'd be possible to get as far as Japan on airmiles But I definitely need to convince my partner that it's 'safe' to do the cancellation, new card, cancellation dance. We're both new to this so it's a little bit scary!

One question- when you say that you put 'absolutely everything' on the card, does that include household bills? Is it possible to set up a direct debit (ie, the mortgage) on a credit card? I don't think we'd hit £10,000 otherwise

[neilhd]

Japan should be do-able with Avios (I presume BA fly there). The main thing is don't waste it on Economy, because the saving isn't great. Use them in Business or First, and be ready to book as soon as they become available at 355 days (you can even book the outbound as a one-way, then call and add the return when that becomes available - but I just chanced it and waited to do both at once).

For spends, I mean everything I spend at shops or online, basically. I can't do the mortgage on it, or most of the general bills. You could of course pay a lot of annual insurances on it if you wanted. Not everywhere takes Amex, but most places do.

You must repay immediately though - treat it as if it were a debit card. The Gold card is a charge card so has to be repaid in full at the end of the month, but even the BA credit cards you should repay immediately, as otherwise a debt spiral looms, and the interest would negate anything you'd gain. I pay mine 2 or 3 times per week.

You'd be surprised how quick it adds up, but you've got to be certain of hitting the spend targets within the timeframes for the bonuses. The £2k in 90 days on the Gold card is fairly easy, but the £3k for the BA is a little harder, so I timed it that for my card it coincided with Christmas, and for my DWs card it coincided with some holiday hotels we had to pay for.

[hornetgirl]

I don't know a way of putting a mortgage onto the credit card unfortunately. But petrol, food shopping, clothes etc. Whatever I buy, I always ask at the till "Do you take American Express?" I've had some surprises too - Toni & Guy don't but Supercuts do, for example.

[Goldia]

Jumping in here, I'm hoping Neilhd or hornetgirl can answer as your replies here have been really clear and easy for my ludite brain to understand!

I did get an Amex around May last year as my brother referred me and we both got the bonus points, so I understand that bit, I got my card just before we had to pay off wdw last year, so it was easy to hit the spend target. It was 'free' for a year, I think it was the gold preferred card not the BA one...anyway I'm sure that part doesn't matter...

That was a long intro, I'm now getting to my question!

So that we could put all our spends on the Amex and build up points more quickly I added my DH to the account and he had his own amex card, but on my account. When the year was up I cancelled the card as I didn't want to pay the fee, it didn't even occur to me to do the "dance" you are suggesting and recommend DH for a card. Do either of you know if we could have done this and got the bonuses, I'm confused as DH did have a card, but not his own account? so I'm wondering if on your accounts your OH has a card at the same time for your account and then when you refer you also get a card for their account? I hope this makes sense.

By the way, the cancelling of a card must be a fairly common thing, as the person on the other end of the phone said I could reapply in 6 months and get the card for free again and the joining bonuses...

Thanks in anticipation for your replies

[hornetgirl]

Hi Goldia. I don't know the answer as we've never done it like this (because the same issue crossed my mind), we just switch between each other every six months. However, I would hazard a guess that as he didn't have his own card it would have been ok. As you say, the people at Amex are very clued up on this, so will probably happily tell you the answer.

[mrmoo123]

Just as another example, I went down the Virgin route purely because I was only really interested in flying to Florida (or maybe other US locations) and Virgin Atlantic do a credit card (Amex) which offers 2 miles for every £1. I may be wrong but I figured I could reach the required miles quicker earning double if that made sense as VA and Avios (BA) offer similar redemption levels. I know it's not great value to use them on Economy but as I am raising enough miles for us and the kids (4 of us) and plan to use reward flights every year then I am more then happy to use them on Economy Flights. There is no way i'd be able to make enough points to fly Premium or Upper Class every year and i'd rather go every year in Economy then every 2-3 years in upper class. You can also earn 2 x vouchers upgrade to premium economy of you spend enough but I have never used mine despite hitting the bonus as I have yet to convince MrsMoo to sit in Premium and send the little moos into Economy... don't understand the problem to be honest sure a 6 and an 8 year old would be OK?

I also churn the amex gold card as mentioned above which can also be converted to Virgin Flying Club rather then avios and do other things such as converting clubcard, virgins shops away portal and e-rewards.

I started August 2015 and got enough miles by May 2016 to book us all onto Economy reward flights in May of this year. I think we paid around £750 in tax total which is much better then the £3k or so I was paying for flights in years previous. I just about have enough miles for next years trip although I haven't booked yet as we are off at Christmas (those were cheap Norwegian Flights, not airmiles flights) but plan to book for next year shortly.